The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted a death row convict to attend the last rites and ceremonies of his deceased mother, under police escort.
The bench comprising of Justices Uday Umesh Lalit, Vineet Saran and S. Ravindra Bhat heard a Special Leave Petition wherein it was submitted that the mother of a death row convict Vikram Singh alias Vicky Walia passed away on 13th November. The petitioner submitted that some of the last rites including Bhog Ceremony were to be performed on 19th and 21st November at Patiala and thus, he be permitted to attend these ceremonies.
The State Counsel submitted that there is no provision that a death convict can be released on parole. However, he suggested that he can be afforded permission to attend the last rites and ceremonies of his deceased mother on the relevant dates from 10.00 AM to 4.00 PM, provided he is accompanied by the Police Escort all the time.
Agreeing to these suggestions, the bench granted permission to the convict while directing the authorities that the convict be accompanied by the Police Escort, all the time from 10 AM to 4 PM on 19th November and 21st November and that he should be relodged in the concerned jail after 4 PM on both days.
Background
Vikram Singh alias Vicky Walia and Jasvir Singh were convicted and sentenced to death for kidnapping Abhi Verma alias Harry, a school student, in Hoshiarpur, and killing him by giving him an overdose of anesthesia, in 2005.
Their death sentence was later confirmed by the Supreme Court while dismissing their appeals in 2010. Their review petitions were also dismissed in 2017 and later their Mercy petition too was rejected.
Subsequently, they approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court which however had dismissed their writ petition. Therefore, they approached the apex court in a Special Leave Petition.
